Welcome to Gideon Davorin’s Traveling Sideshow, where necromancy, magical visions, and pyrokinesis are more than just part of the act…

Mara has always longed for a normal life in a normal town where no one has the ability to levitate or predict the future. Instead, she roams from place to place, cleaning the tiger cage while her friends perform supernatural feats every night.

When the struggling sideshow is miraculously offered the money they need if they set up camp in Caudry, Louisiana, Mara meets local-boy Gabe…and a normal life has never been more appealing.

But before long, performers begin disappearing and bodies are found mauled by an invisible beast. Mara realizes that there’s a sinister presence lurking in the town with its sights set on getting rid of the sideshow freeks. In order to unravel the truth before the attacker kills everyone Mara holds dear, she has seven days to take control of a power she didn’t know she was capable of—one that could change her future forever.

QnA with Amanda Hocking

Out of all the characters you’ve ever written, are there any standout characters you would revisit if you had the chance?

Lydia and Marcy from the Wateresong series. They were both side characters, but in my mind, they have a bunch of side missions going on after the end of series. I thought writing supernatural Nancy Drew with Lydia as the sleuth, saving paranormal creatures from each other, would’ve been super fun. I don’t think I’ll ever get to it, but it was definitely a nice idea.

Have you ever based any of your characters on someone you know/have met in real life? If so, which character?

No, I don’t. When I was in grade school, an author came to our school to talk about writing (I wish I could remember her name, but for the life of me, I can’t.). She said she never based characters on real people because it became too confining. That piece of advice has always stuck with me.

Of course, it’s impossible that I don’t take inspiration from my life around me, but I’ve never based a character on one specific person.

A fun fact about you that nobody knows?

I’m allergic to pineapple. That’s not really a fun fact, but it took me way too long to figure out that breaking out and itching all over were not normal reactions to eating pineapple.

About Amanda Hocking

Amanda Hocking is a lifelong Minnesotan obsessed with Batman and Jim Henson. In between watching cooking shows, taking care of her menagerie of pets, and drinking too much Red Bull Zero, she writes young adult urban fantasy and paranormal romance.

Several of her books have made the New York Times Bestsellers list, including the Trylle trilogy and Kanin Chronicles. Her zombie series, The Hollows, has been adapted into a graphic novel by Dynamite. She has published over fifteen novels, including the Watersong quartet and My Blood Approves series. Freeks - a standalone YA paranormal romance novel set in the 1980s that follows a travelling sideshow - is her latest novel.